Coal India Ltd has signed non-disclosure agreements with mine owners in Australia as it pushes forward with the process of buying overseas assets, the company chairman said on Thursday.“We are going through the process. In fact, we have signed two to three non-disclosure agreements in Australia,” Coal India chairman S. Narsing Rao said in a phone interview from Kolkata.

Rao said some of the mines under consideration have the capacity to produce 10-15 million tonnes of coal a year and the company wants to take a quick decision, “otherwise they may get clinched (by others).”

Coal India, the world’s largest coal mining company, has a war chest of as much as Rs.35,000 crore that can be used to acquire overseas mining assets with domestic expansion constrained by obstacles related to environment, land acquisition and civil liberties.

A number of international assets are up for sale as the cost of production at mines has risen, while coal and iron ore prices have declined and the prices of finished products such as metals have remained low.Analysts and company executives say coal assets are up for sale in Australia, the US, Africa and Indonesia and, with their hunger for energy sources, China and India seem to be the only prospective buyers.

“It is a good business move as it is prudent to diversify geographically,” said Deven Choksey, managing director of KR Choksey Shares and Securities Pvt. Ltd. “Buying minerals in Australia will be all the more welcome.”This marks another attempt by Coal India to buy